LA Poker Classic Prelim Events Continue To Draw Loaded Fields

Online poker pro Vivek "Psyduck" Rajkumar won a preliminary event at the LA Poker Classic. (Image Courtesy of PokerOff.ru)

The latest preliminary event of the LA Poker Classic to feature several big name poker pros was Event No. 18, a $2,500 buy-in No Limit Holdem tournament, which pulled in 167 players who all ponied up the hefty buy-in.

The final table of the tournament would end up featuring three WSOP bracelet winners and an online poker phenom. Winning the tournament outright and the $113,425 first-place prize was online-poker-pro-turned-live-player-extraordinaire Vivek Rajkumar, more commonly known by his screen name "Psyduck."

Rajkumar has gone from being known for his exploits in online poker, mostly cash games, to becoming a dominant force in the brick and mortar poker world. Only 18 months into his live poker career, he has already racked up two WPT cashes and five WSOP cashes. All of those WSOP paydays came from this past summer and included a final table in the $3,000 buy-in Limit Holdem event. What makes this win even more impressive is the fact that Rajkumar was up against three WSOP bracelet winners at the final table.

Finishing in third place was Dutch Boyd, who holds 11 WSOP cashes and two WPT cashes in his six-year career. Just behind him in fourth was Toto Leonidas, who has a ridiculous 20 WSOP cashes to go along with three for WPT events. Then, going out in sixth was another young gun, Brandon Cantu, who won a WSOP bracelet in his first-ever major poker tournament appearance, then went on to add another two WSOP paydays and two WPT ones in about the same time frame as Rajkumar.

The WPT championship event of the L.A. Poker Classic is shaping up to be a monster if these preliminary events are anything to go by and you could be a part of it.

Head over to Bodog Poker and check out the WPT LA Poker Classic online qualifiers, some for as little as $1, while there is still time to do so.